Self-unloading conveyer body



P 2, 1952 E. OKLEJAS 2,609,115

SELF-UNLOADING CONVEYER BODY Filed Sept 26, 1949 e Shets-Sheet 1 0 Eli aiiz e as INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

Sept. 2, 1952 Filed Sept. 26, 1949 E. OKLEJAS SELF-UNLOADING CONVEYER BODY 6 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Sept. 2, 1952 E. OKLEJAS SELF-UNLOADING CONVEYER BODY Filed Sept. 26, 1949 6 Sheets-Sheet 3 Eli Oklg'aa INVENTOR ATTORNEYS Sept. 2, 1952 E. OKLEJAS $ELF UNLOADING CONVEYER BODY e Sheets-Sheet 4 Filed Sept. 26, 1949 INVENTOR ATTORNEYS.

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Sept. 2, 1952 E. OKLEJAS SELF-UNLOADING CONVEYER BODY 6 Sheets-Sheet 5 Filed Sept. 26, 1949 R RN INVENTOR ATTORNEYS m Sept. 2, 1952 E. OKLEJAS UNLOADING CONVEYER BODY SELF Filed Sept. 26, 1949 6 Sheets-Sheet 6 rllrl lulgiml E HI viii a Invi 74 rd r ATTORNEYS a Patented Sept. 2, 1952 UNlTED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,609,115 SELF-UNLOADING CONVEYER BODY Eli Oklejas, Bolles Harbor, Mich.

Application September 26, 1949, Serial No. 117,789

9 Claims.

This. invention relates to an improved self unloading conveyor body of thetype shown, for

example, in my prior Patent 2,275,799 issued March 10; 1942.

An important object of the present invention is to provide, in a structure of the character stated, a generally improved construction for a self unloading conveyor bodyembodying a material-receiving body or hopper of novel design adapted for mounting upon a vehicle and for supporting the remaining parts of the structure;

an improved conveyor arrangemnt including a main or. scraper conveyor traversing the underside of the body longitudinally thereof, and an auxiliary. or discharge conveyor to which the material is fed by the first conveyor, the discharge conveyor being adapted to swing in vertical and horizontal planes; an improved drive means for-the conveyors adapted to permit joint operation or single conveyor operation as desired;

and an improved arrangement for permitting the discharge of material from the hopper to the ,ing the operation thereof in any manner.

With the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the description proceeds, the invention consists of certain novel details of construction and combinations of parts, hereinafter more fully described and pointed out in the claims, it being understood that changes may be made in the construction and arrangement of parts without departing from the spirit of the invention as claimed.

Referring to the drawings Fig. 1 is a side elevation of the structure.

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary side elevation showing the discharge conveyor positioned ready for use.

Fig. 3 is a section on line 3-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig.4 is. a fragmentary top plan view.

-Fig. 5 is a section on line '5-5 of Fig. 4.

K r Fig; 6 is an enlarged fragmentary side elevation ofthe gateopening means.

'7. is a top plan view thereof.

Fig- 8 is an enlarged. section on line 8-8 of enlarged section on line 9-9 of Fig..l2. is a top plan view of saidscraper con- [9 are each mounted slidably in a pairof. spaced Referring to the drawings in detail, 5-is any suitable vehicle on which the structure is mounted, a truck chassis being illustrated in the present instance.

On the vehicle 5 is mounted a materialreceiving body generally designated 6 and comprising a support for all other portions of the structure. Preferably, the body is of generally rectangular or box-like construction, including the rectangular front and rear end walls I and 8 respectively, between which extend, longitudinally of the body, the upwardly diverging side walls 9 merging near the top of the body into vertical upper side wall portions flanged along their upper longitudinal edges. Grooved end guides II are mounted upon said flanges at the opposite ends of the body 6, for the purposeof supporting an extension plank [2 along each side of the body, if it is necessary to extend the body upwardly for the purpose of increasing its material handling capacity.

The body 6 is provided with a plurality of transversely extended verticalpartitions l3, so as to define a plurality of material-receiving compartments, the side walls of which will be inclined by reason of the provision of the inclined side walls 9 of the body, and the end walls of which will also be inclined near their lower ends, by the provision of inclined portions 14 on the partitions l3.

The entire body may be provided with 2. rectangular bottom [5, on the side edges of which can be extended upwardly the posts or. supports 16 for bracing the body, and closing the space defined between the supports 'lfi'and inclined side walls 9 can be the doors [1. Thus, the body is given a generally rectangular or box-like shape despite the provision of downwardly tapering compartments therewithin, the triangular side spaces resulting from this construction'being adapted to provide compartments forconstruction tools such as shovels, spare parts, or'any other objects for which a storage space on a vehicle of this type might be desired. I

It will be understood that any other external or internal framing that mightbe desired for the purpose of reinforcing the body can of course be utilized if desired or 'necessary., A body 6 formed as described above is. equipped with gates removably closing the bottoms of the several material compartments. To this end,'-I mount slidably near the lower end of each compartment a gate [9 formed as a flat horizontally disposed plate located approximately in the plane of longitudinally extended frame members 20 extending along one side of the body.- The gates parallel guides [8 formed from angle iron material and when slid in one direction upon its guides, a gate I9 will close the bottom of its associated compartment. When slid in the other direction, the gate will open the bottom of said compartment for the purpose of permitting the material held therein to gravitate to a scraper conveyor to be described hereinafter.

For the purpose of reciprocating the gates I9, I provide a large sprocket 2| for each gate (see Figs. 6 and 7) rotatably mounted in the frame member 20, the shaft of each sprocket 2| having rigid therewith the guide sleeve 22 in which is slidably mounted the hand crank 23 which can be adjusted as to length by slidable movement within the guide sleeve, and which can be secured in adjusted position by means of set screw 24.

Passed around the large sprocket 2| is the chain 25, that also passes around the small sprocket 26 rotatably mounted in the frame member 20, the small sprocket 26 being rigid with an elongated screw 21 extended into a threaded opening formed in one end of the gate l9.

' By reason of this construction, it will be seen that by rotation of the crank 23 previously adjusted to desired length, the gate [9 can be opened or closed as desired, the screw 2'! rotating for the purpose of causing the gate to be advanced therealong in either direction.

The construction of the gate and the opening means therefor described above is particularly adapted to provide a high speed gate opening construction.

The construction of the body and of the high speed gates having been described, it is appropriate to describe the construction of the scraper conveyor that traverses the body longitudinally and is adapted to receive material gravitating through the open bottoms of the compartments after the gates I9 have been shifted to compartment opening position. The scraper conveyor is particularly illustrated in Figs. through 12 and at the tail end I provide the transversely extended idler shaft 28 on which are mounted the spaced idler sprockets 29 around which pass the endless chains 30 that also pass around the drive sprockets 3| at the head end of the scraper conveyor, the drive sprockets 3| being mounted upon the scraper conveyor drive shaft 32. Shafts 28 and 32 are journaled in opposite ends of a suitably formed scraper conveyor frame 33.

Throughout the length of the endless chains 30, I provide, at spaced intervals, the transversely extended cross bars 34 providing a support for a conveyor belt 35 which may be equipped with spaced cleats 36, rivets or any other suitable fastening means beingused to secure the cross bars 34, belt 35, and cleats 36 to complete the construction of the scraper conveyor belt.

For the purpose of preventing sagging of the intermediate portionof the scraper conveyor, there are provided, as component parts of the conveyor frame orpan 33, the upper guides 31 supporting the upper course of the scraper contion when the self unloading conveyor body is not in use. When said body is in use, the discharge chute 39 is pivotally swung to the position shown in Figs. 10 and 2, and in this position, material discharged from the head end of the scraper conveyor will gravitate to the chute 39, so as to be fed to a discharge conveyor to be described hereinafter.

I prefer that the tail end of the conveyor frame be made detachable, for the purpose of permitting ready disassembly of the scraper conveyor assembly and removal of component parts thereof for cleaning or repair, and to this end, the tail end of the conveyor frame can be connected to the remaining portion of said frame by a joint 40 secured by plate 4|.

Thus, there is provided a scraper conveyor that extends longitudinally of the underside of the hollow body, for the purpose of receiving material gravitating from the compartments after the gates 19 have been moved to open position, and said material will be carried by said scraper conveyor to the rear end of the conveyor body, that is the head end of the conveyor, for gravitation to a discharge conveyor to be described.

In connection with this discharge conveyor, I provide a discharge conveyor support-that is movably mounted upon the rear end of the body. In this connection, said support in thepresent instance is mounted for vertical sliding movement upon the rear end of the body 6 in a manner to be described.

The support for the discharge conveyor, in this connection, comprises at its lower end the horizontally extended platform 42 rigidly connected as by gussets 43 and by welding to' the lower ends of a pair of vertically disposedtubular guides 44 (see Fig. 3) having up and down sliding movement in guide brackets 45 secured to the rear end wall 8 of the body. The upper ends of the tubular guides are connected by a header 46, the medial portion of-which' is rigidly secured to the lower end of a vertically disposed ram 4'! working in hydraulic cylinder 43 controlled through the medium of buses 49 through which fluid is pumped, a handpump 49 being used for this purpose in the present instance.

Thus, there is provided at the rear end of the body a discharge conveyor support that has up and down movement and which is equipped with means for controlling said movement, said means being under the control of an operator. In the inoperative position of the discharge conveyor, said support is moved upwardly-to the position shown in Fig. l, but when the discharge conveyor is to be used, the support is adjusted downwardly to the position shown in 'Fig. 2.

I include, in my structure, a means-universally connecting one end of the discharge conveyor to the above described support. To'this end, I provide a gear box including a lower section 52 cup-like in general configuration, and fixedly mounted upon the platform-42.- As particularly shown in Fig. 8, the gear box also includes an upper section 53 of inverted cup-like 'shape,"the two sections being formed with annularflanges 54 between which is interposed a ball bearing 55 forrotatable mounting of the. upper section upon the lower section. Means for locking the upper'section 53 in positions to which itis rotatably adjusted isprovided, comprising clamps i6 equipped with bolts threadable thereinand against the flange of the upper'gear'box section 53, so as to cause the flanges of both sections to be tightened against each other for the purpose of preventing their normal freerelative rotation,

Rigid with the upper gear box section 53, and fixedly mounted upon diametrically opposite portions of the flange of said upper section, are the upstanding arms 59 between the upper ends of which is extended the shaft 60 on which the discharge conveyor, generally designated BI, is pivotally mounted.

By reason of this construction, it is seen that there is provided a universal mounting of the discharge conveyor upon the vertically slidable support therefor, the discharge conveyor swinging in a vertical plane upon the shaft 60, and swinging in a lateral plane by the provision of arotatable upper gear box section 53.

Describing now the construction of the discharge conveyor, this comprises basically telescopically related tail and head discharge conveyor sections.

The tail discharge conveyor section is provided at one end with the end plates 62 through which the shaft 66 extends. Rigid with these end plates are the parallel elongated side plates '63 suitably cross braced at 64, and extended longitudinally of each side plate 63 and rigidly secured thereto is a channel member 65, plate 63 and channel member 65 being rigid at their head ends with depending bearing plates 66. Mounted on the lower ends of the depending bearing plates 66 at the head end of the tail conveyor section are the trolleys 61 equipped with rollers 68.

Describing now the head discharge conveyor section, this is in construction substantially identical to the tail section except for being inverted and reversed. .Said head section includes side plates 69 rigid atone end with bearing plates extended upwardly from the tail endof the head section, there being extended upwardly from the respective bearing plates 16 the trolleys ll equipped with rollers 12 that are received in the channel member 65 of the tail section.

At the other end of the head discharge conveyor section, I provide the end plates 14.

In this connection, the rollers 12 are received in the channel members 13 provided on the respectiveside plates 69, and a telescoping discharge conveyor frame is thus provided.

I provide a means for bodily adjusting the discharge conveyor assembly in a vertical plane, and for this'purpose, I provide the cable 15 connected at one end to the cross member 16 that can be secured to the tail discharge conveyor section at a point intermediate the ends of said section. Cable 15 is trained over pulley TI mounted upon the supporting plate 50 that is rigidly secured to the rear end wall of the body, and is reinforced by gussets 5|. After having been passed over the pulley 11, the cable 15 is trained around direction changing pulley l1, l8 respectively and extends to a drum 80 whereby, under the control of an operator,the crank equipped drum can be rotated forthe purpose of hoisting or lowering the discharge conveyor structure.

I also provide a means, under the control of an'operator, for extending or retracting the telescoping discharge conveyor, andto this end I provide a cable 8| one end of which is connected as" at 82 to the tail end of the head conveyor section, the cable being extended from said connection around a pulley 83 mounted upon the head end of the tail discharge conveyor section, andbeing thereafter extended to a crank oper- --ated..drum 84, after which the cable is extended backitothe tail end of the head conveyor section -"andzis connecte ther ig at 5- y; reas n this construction, rotation of the ,drum in one direction will extend the telescopicv conveyor as desired, while rotation in the other. direction will retract it, under the control of an operator, and ordinary means embodied in conventional hand winches ,can be employed to retain the telescoped sections in adjusted relation. This completes the description of the means for moving the head and tail discharge conveyor sections to adjustably telescoped positions, and there will now be described the construction and arrangement of the discharge conveyor belt relative to said sections. As seen from Fig. 8, I mount upon the shaft 60 the drive sprockets 86 around which passes the endless conveyor belt generally designated 81, and formed like the scraper conveyor belt. This belt is extended from the drive sprockets 86 around idler sprockets 88 (see Fig. 2), thence to idler sprockets 89 at the head end of the head conveyor section, and thence around sprockets 90 at the tail end of said head conveyor section. From this point, the endless belt is passed around sprockets 9| rotatably mounted upon the head end of the tail section, and thence back to the drive sprockets 86.

The sprockets 9! are mounted upon a shaft 92, and adapted for being shifted against said shaft, and also against the shaft of the sprockets 9B, are the threaded lock members 93 constituting a friction lock.

By reason of the above described belt construction and arrangement, it may be observed that the conveyor belt 81 will always be under proper tension, regardless of the overall length of the discharge conveyor. In other words, even when the discharge conveyor is fully retracted, with the head and tail sections fully telescoped. as in Fig. l, the conveyor belt 81 will be under full tension. The same is true when the conveyor sections are fully extended, or partially extended to any desired length as in Fig. 2.

The means for driving the conveyors will now be described. In this connection, a power take off 94 (Fig. 1) extending from the vehicle 5 rotates a sprocket 95 around which passes the chain 96 passing around sprocket on one end of drive shaft 91 extended longitudinally of the hopper or body 6 (see Fig. 4), and extending at its other end into a clutch means 98 controlled by operating rod 99. Extending from said clutch means 98 is the shaft I00 that extendsinto a speed reducer box lfll.

So far, the drive means described iscommon both to the scraper and discharge conveyors.

A take-off for driving the scraper conveyor comprises shaft 12 extending from the speed reducer around which shaft passes the chain I03 also passing around sprocket I04 on which is mounted one portion of a clutch I05 operated through a control I06, the other portion of the clutch being connected to the drive shaft 3'2 of the scraper conveyor. By reason of this construction, it is seen that the scraper conveyor can be selectively engaged with or disengaged from the common drive, this being for thepurpose of permitting the scraper conveyor to be driven simultaneously with the discharge conveyor, or .to permit the discharge conveyor to be driven Without operating the scraper conveyor.

Extending from the speed reducer, I0 I', for the purpose of driving the discharge conveyor, I provide a shaft equipped with, sprocket around which passes the chain I61 for drivingthe stub shaft I08 universally connected at I09 to the jack shaft 1 I [0 which is a spline shaft having a splihedcohthe discharge conveyor in any position to which said discharge conveyor is extended.

9. In a self unloading conveyor structure a hopper adapted for mounting upon a vehicle, said hopper having bottom openings, gates normally closing said openings, high speed gate opening means for the openings, a scraper conveyor mounted on the underside of the hopper below the openings and adapted to deliver material gravitating through the openings to one end of the hopper, a discharge conveyor support mounted for vertical sliding adjustment on said end of the hopper, relatively rotatable gear box sections mounted on said support, an extendable discharge conveyor connected at one end to one of said sections for vertical swinging movement, thus to provide a universal mount of the discharge conveyor on said support, hydraulic means for ad- 30 justing said support to positions of vertical sliding adjustment, a hoist connected to the dis- 10 charge conveyor and mounted upon the hopper for adjusting the discharge conveyor to selected positions of vertical swinging adjustment, a power transmission operatively linked with the scraper conveyor and extending through thegear box sections to the discharge conveyor, for powering the discharge conveyor in any selected position of relative rotary adjustment of the gear box sections, and clutch means for selectively engaging and disengaging said conveyors with the power transmission.

ELI OKLEJAS.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 252,623 Reeves Jan. 24, 1882. 399,312 Arbogast Mar. 12, 1889 633,202 Lamm Sept. 19, 1899 679,903 Mullaney Aug. 6, 1901 1,515,327 Barkmann Nov. 11, 1924 2,169,890 Zink Aug. 15, 1939 2,205,013 Joy June 18, 1940 2,451,656 Birch Oct. 19, 1948 2,488,407 Hofistetter Nov. 15, 1949 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 309,751 Germany Feb. 19, 1911 

